BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart says it is introducing tools that will allow customers to authorize artificial intelligence agents to shop on their behalf, set spending limits and track agent purchases separately within their accounts.
The initiative includes Agent Profiles, scheduled to launch in the next month, a Walmart Agent Gateway for developers and companies, and terms governing how agents operate. The tools are intended to support shopping at Walmart and Sam’s Club through third-party apps while giving customers control over purchases and access to their information.
The move builds on Walmart’s expansion into conversational commerce through its Sparky assistant and integrations with Muse, ChatGPT, Gemini and other platforms. It also addresses a practical challenge as AI agents take on more shopping tasks: distinguishing actions taken by software from those taken by account holders.
Currently, Walmart said, agents sign in using a customer’s account, and their purchases appear alongside those made directly by the shopper. Agent Profiles will give each authorized agent a dedicated profile within that account, allowing customers to identify its purchases.
Customers will be able to require approval for every transaction or permit purchases within a spending limit they establish, such as $50, $100 or $200. They can delete an agent’s profile at any time. Purchase approval will be required by default, and Walmart may seek additional authorization even when a transaction falls within an agent’s spending limit.
The company compared the arrangement to adding an authorized cardholder to a credit card, with the account holder controlling spending and monitoring use.
Walmart also said shoppers using agents will receive the same prices available to people shopping on Walmart.com, with applicable offers and fees disclosed before purchase.
“We price products, not people,” the company said.
The Walmart Agent Gateway is intended to provide a more direct and reliable way for agents to shop. Agents currently may navigate Walmart’s website through a browser, following steps designed for people — a process the retailer described as potentially slow and prone to errors.
Walmart will begin offering the gateway through a beta program for companies and developers. When a customer first uses an agent through the gateway, Walmart will automatically create an Agent Profile, which the customer can authorize and link by signing into a Walmart account.
The gateway also is designed to help agents locate frequently purchased products without receiving a customer’s broader purchase history. For example, Walmart could help an agent identify a shopper’s preferred bread or milk while limiting the information shared.
The accompanying terms prohibit agents from acting beyond a shopper’s intent. Agents will not receive payment-card information or be allowed to add or change payment methods, and they may access only information needed for an authorized task.
Walmart said its returns process will apply to agent purchases, including when an agent does not act as intended. Information received by an agent will be subject to the provider’s privacy policy, while Walmart will process information it receives under its own privacy notice.
Agents that fail to follow the terms will be blocked from Walmart’s site, the company said.
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